Chapter 12
12. A Bombshell Declaration
Normally, submarine pitchers have lower velocity.
In an era where low velocity can quickly turn a pitcher into batting practice, submarine pitchers have other advantages.
Movement and command near the edges of the strike zone.
Their pitches move as if they are alive, making them difficult to hit.
And when that movement comes from an unfamiliar trajectory that rises from below?
At the high school level, it was almost impossible to hit.
“Out!”
The umpire’s call rang out.
The confident high school pitcher on the mound smiled at the frustrated hitter.
This feels familiar. It’s more comfortable than my left hand!
As the championship game moved past the middle innings and toward the end, Seo Ji-tae felt a strange sense of freedom.
This is easier than pitching left-handed. My right hand feels so familiar.
The truth was that he was more comfortable with his right hand than his left.
His left hand was still something he was developing.
It was a path he had never been able to continue before his regression.
His right hand was different.
He had used it until right before retirement.
He knew exactly how to pitch with it.
The different breaking balls he had learned simply to survive.
Instead of driving downward, his pitches rose and moved.
Those sensations had been carved into his body through ten years of struggling in professional baseball.
They were his most familiar and comfortable sensations.
Chungdeok High School’s lineup collapsed before the lively movement of his pitches.
I’ll finish this without giving players like you a single run. If I’m going to the Major Leagues, that should be obvious.
To Seo Ji-tae, Chungdeok High School was a perfect test to show the value of his right-handed submarine delivery.
The Chungdeok hitters were already beginning to feel defeated.
They could not properly respond to the 138 km/h upshoot that scraped along the ground before violently rising toward their chests.
But there was an even bigger problem.
Seo Ji-tae was not a pitcher who only had an upshoot.
After throwing two upshoots to one hitter, Seo Ji-tae suddenly threw another breaking ball.
It began on the same trajectory.
Then it curved away from the right-handed hitter like a spinning disc.
Frisbee slider.
The hitter started to swing and stopped halfway.
But he had not intentionally held back.
“Out!”
He had simply seen the pitch and still could not hit it.
Only two pitches.
Seo Ji-tae actually had one more pitch available from his right-handed submarine delivery.
The circle changeup, a pitch that would become increasingly popular in the Major Leagues.
There’s no reason to use it here.
A pitcher with overwhelming stuff could survive with only two pitches.
Just like his left arm.
Seo Ji-tae was clearly announcing one thing.
This stage was too small for him.
“Out!”
Chungdeok High School’s lineup fell one after another before the lively movement of the submarine pitches.
Every time a bat cut through empty air, humiliation and fear spread across the hitters’ faces.
“Where did this right-handed submarine thing suddenly come from?!”
The louder the irritated voices from the opposing dugout became, the happier Seo Ji-tae looked.
Seo Ji-tae looked toward the dugout when they asked whether he wanted to be replaced.
In the ninth inning? Why would I?
Bottom of the ninth.
Two outs.
Cheongryong High School still held a narrow 1 to 0 lead.
Seo Ji-tae remained on the mound.
Despite normally being extremely sensitive about managing his pitch count, he was heading toward a complete-game victory.
Only one out remained until the championship.
Seo Ji-tae casually rotated his still-fresh right shoulder.
“This is enough.”
This game was a showcase.
It was his chance to show the teams interested in him exactly what kind of player he was.
And one of the greatest advantages of being a switch pitcher was that managing shoulder usage became easier.
Modern baseball is only going to become stricter about pitcher workload. This advantage will never change.
Seo Ji-tae looked toward the final hitter.
He wanted a dramatic finish.
“Too bad the last hitter isn’t the cleanup hitter.”
Only one out remained.
Chungdeok High School’s second hitter stepped into the batter’s box with an exhausted expression.
The Chungdeok dugout had already looked like a funeral for several innings.
The hitter took a deep breath.
“Hoo.”
He tightly gripped the bat and focused with everything he had.
“…”
The entire stadium held its breath.
Everyone stared at Seo Ji-tae’s right arm on the mound.
Behind home plate, catcher Lee Jin-woo firmly held his mitt and gave a sign.
Seo Ji-tae gave a tiny nod.
He lowered his body until his knee almost touched the dirt.
His right arm swept violently through the air.
The first pitch was a 137 km/h upshoot that attacked the hitter’s chest.
The hitter still could not understand the timing.
His bat swung through the air too late.
“Strike!”
The second pitch came with the exact same upshoot trajectory.
This time the hitter did not swing.
But the pitch entered the strike zone perfectly.
Two strikes immediately.
Seo Ji-tae began his motion for the pitch that would finish the game.
“Goodbye.”
Third pitch.
Seo Ji-tae’s arm once again swept close to the ground.
The second hitter expected an upshoot and swung.
But the pitch racing toward home plate ignored his determination.
Just before the bat could reach it, the ball swept sharply toward the catcher’s right side.
The finishing pitch of Seo Ji-tae’s right-handed submarine delivery.
The frisbee slider.
It moved sharply outside like a spinning disc.
The bat cut helplessly through empty air.
Unable to stop the momentum of his swing, the second hitter fell awkwardly onto the dirt.
The ball slammed into the middle of the mitt.
The home plate umpire firmly raised his right hand.
“Strikeout! Game over!”
“Cheongryong High School wins the championship!”
The umpire’s call came down.
An explosive roar swallowed the stadium.
Cheongryong High School had conquered the Golden Lion Tournament.
The first national championship in school history.
At the center of it all stood Seo Ji-tae.
“Ji-tae!”
Lee Jin-woo was the first person to rush onto the mound.
He tightly hugged Seo Ji-tae.
Seo Ji-tae was always arrogant on the mound.
But even he laughed today, feeling the pure joy of baseball.
Normally, he would have complained and pushed Jin-woo away.
Instead, he lightly patted his shoulder.
“Winning actually feels pretty good.”
“We did it!”
The monster ace.
And the freshman dedicated catcher who was the only one capable of properly handling that monster.
The Golden Lion Tournament ended while announcing the birth of a new monster.
Cheongryong High School had won the Golden Lion Tournament.
Countless camera flashes exploded toward the players pouring onto the mound in celebration.
But the scout section in the upper stands had already become a silent battlefield.
“General Manager! He isn’t merely the top draft prospect. He’s a switch pitcher who can pitch perfectly with both arms!”
“This kid won’t stay in Korea. We need to approach him with a signing bonus before the American scouts do!”
Scouts from Korean professional teams desperately called their front offices.
Domestic teams were restricted by limits on rookie signing bonuses.
Meanwhile, several Major League scouts were already writing reports in English and urgently sending them to their headquarters.
[Ji-tae Seo’s switch pitching is completely practical for real games. We must sign him through the international amateur system.]
A hybrid monster.
A type of player rarely seen anywhere.
If developed properly, he could become a monster unlike anything in baseball history.
The name Seo Ji-tae had been underlined several times in thick red ink inside their notebooks.
If baseball officials were reacting like this, what about online baseball communities?
Naturally, they were exploding too.
[Switch Pitcher Appears at Golden Lion Tournament! Is this a manga?]
, Did you see how he can split his pitch workload between both arms?
, So against lefties he throws 150-plus fastballs left-handed, then against righties he can throw 140 km/h upshoots submarine? Is this guy insane?
, He’s a freshman? How old is he? Can he enter the draft at that age?
, Isn’t the number one draft pick basically guaranteed?
, He really is good. I thought the hype was exaggerated.
, He’s still just a high school kid. Everyone’s overreacting.
, Look at his numbers. His ERA is literally 0.00. Isn’t that the first time ever?
The online response was explosive.
The people who had mocked the reports as radar-gun errors had disappeared.
Now everyone could only stare in amazement at the incredible ability Seo Ji-tae had shown.
The award ceremony quickly began.
Finally, it was time to announce the tournament MVP.
Before the host could even speak, every Cheongryong player was already looking at Seo Ji-tae.
“The Golden Lion Tournament MVP is, Seo Ji-tae!”
He had shown flawless pitching throughout the tournament, finishing with an ERA of 0.00.
Who else could they possibly give the award to?
Seo Ji-tae winning unanimously was obvious.
The moment the ceremony ended, television cameras and reporters surrounded him.
“You led your team to the championship with perfect pitching. Congratulations! How do you feel?”
A reporter with an excited expression held out a microphone.
“Thank you.”
“Your performance today, especially the moment you changed gloves during a crisis and revealed your right-handed submarine delivery, shocked the entire country. Many are already calling you the top prospect of the KBO draft after graduation. Could you tell us your future goals?”
Being selected first overall in the KBO draft after graduation.
Everyone considered that the obvious path for an elite player like him.
But Seo Ji-tae’s eyes were not focused on something as small as the KBO.
He looked directly into the camera lens.
Toward the professional team officials and baseball fans watching him across the country, he spoke without hesitation.
“I will not enter the KBO draft.”
For a moment, the reporter’s frozen smile remained on her face.
The hand holding the microphone trembled slightly.
“Pardon? Then… Do you mean you’re considering attending university first?”
“No.”
Seo Ji-tae immediately cut her off.
“I’m going to the United States through an international amateur contract. Major League Baseball was my goal from the beginning.”
Silence.
A declaration that he would go directly to America had just been made during a live national broadcast.
The noise inside the stadium disappeared.
The stunned announcer’s lips trembled.
“Y-You mean you plan to challenge American baseball after graduating high school?”
“No. I’m going this year.”
Nearby, Head Coach Choi Dong-il and the Cheongryong players froze with their mouths hanging open.
The Korean scouts in the stands turned pale and stared at one another.
“Going directly after leaving high school carries enormous risk. That is an incredible statement.”
At the reporter’s confused question, Seo Ji-tae gave an arrogant smile.
“It would be dangerous if my talent were only at KBO level. But if I’m above that level, then I have to go.”
An arrogant and overwhelming declaration from a freshman that shook the entire country.
That evening, his words spread like wildfire across every Korean baseball community.
